Just saw a friend and coworker harrassed on live TV.

[DrWeird]

Up in Portland, where they just started performing gay marriages. There's a huge line of hundreds of people lined up around the courthouse. As she's not seeing anybody, I assume she's there as a supporter.

There's a few freeper Phelps types there too, big signs and yelling obscenities as loud as they can. The police have them roped off, but only a few feet from the brides, grooms, and guests. My friend was right next to a nice couple being interviewed, and from the look on her face, despite being happy, I could tell the protestors were cutting deep.

I'd give anything to be there right now. I wish she had told me, I've got half a mind to bust some heads.

I have become convinced that there is absolutely no good or logical reason to prevent gay marriages, that the people who are against it are nothing but hate filled bigots, and that it's the moral obligation of every decent human being, regardless of religion or political affilitation, to fight for this as hard as they can.

[DarkPhenyx]

1. Aren't supposed to have protest zones established?

I wonder i they had a permit at all, even. Hummmmmmmmmmm, something to look into.

[GreenPartyVoter]

17. Yeah, really. Why is it THESE protestors

aren't roped off miles away in the "free-speech zone"?!

[DarkPhenyx]

18. Somebody in that area needs to look into this.

If we can't destroy the tool we might as well learn to use it.

[tom_paine]

24. It has already been demonstarted that Friends of the Emperor

are not bound by law nor the rules that the rest of us have to follow.

After all, the Imperial Family might need them later to spy on us or help Gulag us or murder us, Mississippi-1940s-style.

[Az]

2. The people that are against it believe

that homosexuality is evil. Its really that simple. Their view of the universe is such that they believe some clearly defined set of rules determines what is right and wrong. They believe they are incapable of figuring out right and wrong for themself. They believe that these fixed definitions of right and wrong are the only valid definitions. And of course they believe that they have the only valid interpretations of these values.

[quispquake]

3. Why do people hate so bad?

I just don't get it...how can people see two people in love, and HATE them??? How could human beings treat other humans like these idiot freepers do?

Is it because people have a need to feel superior over others? I guess my mental makeup is just completely different from people that use religion as a reason to HATE people...

You'd think I could stop being shocked by how hateful people are, but I keep getting blindsided...

pp23

[lectrobyte]

12. Because they need someone to blame, a scapegoat.

Germany in the 1930's might be a tired analogy, but if they can take people's minds off of Halliburton, oil, tax cuts, 9/11 investigation, you name it, by stirring up a little hatred, well, that's just business as usual in c9k America. I wish I understood psychology better, probably all this cheerleaderness and other-side hatred is some sort of evolutionary leftover tribal survival instinct. Orwell sure understood it, with the 3 minute hate.

[newyawker99]

15. Hi lectrobyte!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[OneTwentyoNine]

20. Yeah,Brother Jerry claiming gays were responsible for 9/11..

Gays and their decadent lifestyle caused terrorist to kill 3000 Americans.

Falwell,Robertson thats who represtents the Republican party now,Kerry needs to pound that fact home day in day out.

David

[slackmaster]

23. In this case I think it's rooted in fear

Plain and simple.

[uncle ray]

4. i really don't give much of a damn either way

i just wish people could wait until after this election to deal with the issue! we got much bigger things to be worried about than gay marriage and a silly fucking movie this year.

[Virginian]

5. But this is Dubya's "wedge" issue.

He had to have something to galvanize his base and take their minds off of the fact that he is a miserable failure. This is supposed to overshadow his lack of explanation for AWOL, no WMD, etc.

The people getting ceremonies are doing so because it is still not forbidden by the constitution and because someone will finally give them a license. They aren't trying to be in your face with it, they just want the opportunity to live their lives like everybody else.

Dubya's idea of amending the constitution is ridiculous and it is costing him moderate votes. Not since prohibition has anyone attempted to restrict any portion of the population through a religious based amendment, and we all know how prohibition turned out.

[Muddleoftheroad]

11. His wedge issue

If it's his, we sure handed it to him on a silver platter.

Yes, let's have gay marriages. But we could have waited until after we won in November. Is that political calculus? Yes.

[DrWeird]

13. You know what?

Why don't you tell these people to wait until November to their faces.

<>

[Virginian]

14. If not this, then it would be some other issue.

Maybe Affirmative Action or Abortion would be the issue. You want to tell the beneficiaries of affirmative action that they have to wait? You want to tell a pregnant woman she has to wait because this is not the right time for this topic? It will never be a good time for a wedge issue, we just have to make it into "our side is on the correct side."

The very idea of a Constitutional Amendment which caters to one religious group (those conservative denominations who think homosexuality is a sin) over another religious group (more liberal religions such as Unitarians who don't judge homosexuality) is, in itself, paradoxically unconstitutional.

[LeahMira]

21. There's NEVER a good time...

Yes, let's have gay marriages. But we could have waited until after we won in November. Is that political calculus? Yes.

That's what's so exasperating to me. Don't you get it that there will always be some "reason" why it's not a good time to press for equal rights?

You don't know what will be going on in November or December or in 2005. Neither do I.

I guess we all can be pretty sure that Bush has his "October Surprise" waiting in the wings. Who among us would have predicted the 9/11 attack? For that matter, who could have imagined that the U.S. would pre-emptively invade Iraq? And then there are always the natural disasters, like earthquakes and hurricanes and so on.

No matter what's going on or who's in power, there's never a good time. The folks in power are past masters at keeping the nation stirred up over something. That's how they manage to keep most people under their feet.

First there was one mayor marrying people who are homosexuals. Then there were two. Now three. I hope with all my heart that more and more mayors across the nation join these three until people who are homosexual in every state in the nation have somewhere they can go to be married that's close to home. Something has started already, and I don't think it's going to be stopped... at least I hope not!

NOW is exactly the right time.

And I really think that if liberals pull away from this, another time will be a helluva long time coming.

Let's not waste this opportunity. PLEASE!!!

[Zero Gravitas]

19. wedge issue

I say Bring It On... Although the polls show that a majority oppose gay marriage I don't think for many that opposition runs very deep. the fundies of course are against it and they are going to vote Dim-bulb Dubya anyway.

I think that most people who "oppose" gay marriage are really indifferent to it but don't really see the point.
Once people start to think about the issue for the most part I think they will become more supportive.

So if Dumbass and Rove want to make it into a wedge issue they are going to drive a wedge between their hardcore support and moderates, not between moderates and liberals.

[Cronus Protagonist]

6. gay marriage = silly fucking movie?

That's a strange equation to make. What we're talking about here is a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT to restrict the rights of Americans and estrange a segment of the population. There is no equivalence to a movie here. None at all.

"FUCK BUSH" Buttons, Stickers & Magnets

[RandomKoolzip]

7. I THINK he's talking about the "Passion"...

You know, the "passion" for making the GLBT community permanent second class citizens...

[jansu]

8. What other license can the state not issue, based on sexual preference?

Driver's license, Hunting license, Barber license, Real Estate license? Tell me, please!

Since all marriage can NOT take place without a license from the state, all Marriages are Civil! You can not get married in any religious place, without a license and just because you marry in a religous place, does not make the marriage religious, just the ceremony! Since I am not Catholic, I can not marry in a Catholic church...allowing gay marriage will not change whom the religous organizations will allow to marry within their buildings!

What do the words "Pursuit of Happiness" mean?

America did not invent Human Rights, Human Rights invented America!

[mike1963]

9. What a great line!

"America did not invent Human Rights, Human Rights invented America!"
:D

[Sinistrous]

16. Good points.

Minor correction: The Roman Catholic Church will conduct a wedding between a Catholic and a non-catholic.

Note: For an insight into the meaning of "Pursuit of Happiness", see Jefferson's Syllabus of the doctrines of Epicurus.
link: http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/jefflet.html

Edit: added link.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

22. And jansu makes line #6

See sig.

[Bandit]

10. This is exactly what "Free Speech Zones" were made for but do they use

them noooo...... Bush* has succeeded in betraying the established purpose of those zones but when it comes down to using them for the purpose they were created the Gestapo falls short. Imagine that?